This one is strictly for fans of the NFL, like I am.
So can we stop with the Aaron Rodgers man-crushes already?
Maybe it’s just ESPN. But for years, all I’ve heard is Aaron Rodgers this… Aaron Rodgers that. On the network’s “First Take” show, Stephen A. Smith even coined the moniker “that baaad man.” Rodgers gets talked about more than just about any other NFL quarterback.
Yet once again the Green Bay Packers have fallen short of their lofty goals, by losing to the Detroit Lions and getting eliminated from playoff contention.
Actually, it’s not just ESPN. A cursory look through Google digs up articles that insist on comparing Rodgers to Tom Brady, the consensus GOAT (Greatest of all Time). Some even dare to suggest Aaron might be the best ever. (see link)
This is puzzling to me. To be clear, I’m not a Rodgers hater. In fact, I really enjoy his State Farm TV commercials, and he honestly comes off as a nice guy. But to be put in that rarefied air??
Let’s look at some stats… beginning with the biggest of them all. Rodgers has exactly ONE Super Bowl appearance (which he won back in 2011). By contrast, Tom Brady has been to the Super Bowl ten (10) times, and has won seven (7) of those.
Twelve (12) quarterbacks have won more Super Bowls than Rodgers. Aaron is in a group of sixteen (16) QBs that are 1-0 in Super Bowls.
Not enough? Ok, let’s look at playoff wins and losses. Rodgers’ career record of playoff wins and losses stands at 12-10. (It would’ve been 12-11 had they gotten past the Lions, only to get crushed by San Francisco in the Wild Card game next week).
Of the 12 QBs that have won two or more Super Bowls, only Peyton Manning has a worse “won-loss” playoff game percentage record, with a 14-13 (52%).
Much will be made of Rodgers’ historically few interceptions, one of the measuring sticks of QB performance. Who cares? Give me the QB who has taken his team to the Super Bowl TEN times (including a totally different team)… over the stylistically pleasing quarterback who, for all the fanfare he gets… has only managed ONE Super Bowl win in the seventeen (17) years he’s been there.
The fact of the matter is… Aaron Rodgers has come up woefully short on the sport’s biggest stages.
I’ll never understand the amount of airtime he gets.
My brother always comes through in the clutch! KNOWLEDGE !!! AR is overrated and in my world I see him as a Diva. On and off the field. Media treats him as if he were NFL royalty. I see him as the red carpet….which stars walk on…..
We see it the same way, my brother! Again… nothing personal against Aaron. But MAN… does this guy get an oversized amount of print and air time for someone who has only won one Super Bowl in 17 years. What about the Joe Montanas, Terry Bradshaws, and Troy Aikmans of the world? I mean… they’re still around… and one has to wonder how they must be feeling. I’ve seen Bradshaw complain about Brady being called the GOAT. But curiously I’ve never heard him complain about the attention Aaron gets. HELL… one could make the case that Rodgers isn’t even the best Green Bay Packers quarterback of all time!! Bart Starr won two Super Bowls with them. Incredible!!